Visuo-Haptic Redirected Walking Using Handrail

Abstract

A novel use of virtual reality (VR) was demonstrated. It enables a user to feel walking a straight virtual corridor while touching straight handrails, although the user walks while gripping circular handrails within a limited space. The main contribution of this study is to show that visual-haptic redirect walking is possible using handrails for a haptic presentation. Matsumoto et al. introduced visuo-haptic redirected walking. They used walls as a haptic presentation, and they produced Unlimited Corridor as a VR demonstration using visuo-haptic redirected walking. However, it has not yet been verified whether the same effect can occur by touching other shapes. Therefore, in this study, a VR demonstration using handrails instead of walls was created, and whether visuo-haptic redirected walking is possible even with handrails for haptic presentation was examined. In the demonstration, more than 2000 people participated, and their comments and motion data were gathered. The users' comments implied that visuo-haptic redirected walking was possible using handrails.